Sonya Renee Taylor is the Founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology, a digital media and education company promoting radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tool for social justice and global transformation. Sonya’s work as an award winning Performance Poet, Activist and transformational leader continues to have global reach. Sonya is a former National and International poetry slam champion, author, educator and activist who has mesmerized audiences across the US, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, England, Scotland, Sweden, Brazil, Canada and the Netherlands as well as in prisons, mental health treatment facilities, homeless shelters, universities, festivals and schools across the globe.

Believing in the power of art is a vehicle for social change, Sonya has been widely recognized for her work as a change agent. In 2015, she was named one of Planned Parenthood's 99 Dream Keepers as well as a Planned Parenthood Generation Action's 2015 Outstanding Partner awardee. She was named one of the 12 Women Who Paved the Way for Body Positivity by Bustle Magazine and in September 2015, she was honored as a YBCA 100, an annual compilation of creative minds, makers, and pioneers who are asking the questions and making the provocations that will shape the future of American culture; an honor she shared alongside author Ta'Nahesi Coates, artist Kara Walker, filmmaker Ava Duvernay and many more. In 2016, she was named a Champion of Women’s Health by Planned Parenthood and commissioned to write the official poem for Planned Parenthood’s 100 year centennial celebration. Sonya was invited by the Obama Administration to speak on at the 2016 White House Forum on Disability and LGBTQ issues. In 2017, Sonya was awarded the Quixote Foundation’s “Thank You Note, a $25,000 unrestricted award for her reproductive justice work.

Sonya's poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies and she has been seen, heard and read on HBO, BET, MTV, TV One, NPR, PBS, CNN, Oxygen Network, The New York Times, New York Magazine, MSNBC.com, Today.com, Huffington Post, Vogue Australia, Shape.com, Ms. Magazine and many more. She is a regular collaborator with organizations such as Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Advocates for Youth 1in3 Campaign, Association for Size Diversity and Health, Binge Eating Disorders Association (BEDA), Yerba Buena Cultural Art Center and numerous others.

With a B.A. in Sociology and an M.S.A. in Organizational Management, Sonya continues to be a fierce activist for global justice using the lens of intersectional Black Feminism and radical self-love. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Split This Rock, an organization calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for SisterSong, a pioneering Women of Color reproductive justice collective. Sonya continues to be engaged in issues of racial justice, police brutality, mental health, reproductive rights and justice and much more.

In 2011, Sonya founded The Body is Not An Apology, as an online community to cultivate radical self-love and body empowerment. TBINAA quickly became an international movement and leading framework for the budding body positivity movement. In 2015, The Body is Not An Apology developed a digital magazine, education and community building platform to connect the globe around issues of radical self-love and intersectional social justice. Today, TBINAA.com reaches over 250,000 thousand readers weekly, with website visitors from over 140 countries. In an effort to continue to disseminate the message of radical-self love as vehicle for global transformation, Sonya will release, The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love on Berrett-Koehler Publishing in February 2018. Sonya lives in the California Bay Area with her Yorkie, Anastasia Duchess but continues to tour globally sharing lectures, workshops and performances focused on radical unapologetic healing and personal transformation.